Roast Chicken with Radishes

Crudité with green goddess dip from the dinner I served the night before. I repurposed the red pepper by trimming the bottom so it would sit flatter and giving it a fresh cut on the top.
I also served warm olives with orange peel and thyme. About a decade ago, my sister gave me the linen cocktail napkins.
Peanut in Paris in front of her former place of employment, Pierre Frey. She’s now in graduate school at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London. She traveled to Paris with her sister Elizabeth via Amsterdam on a gallery scouting week-long tour.

A week ago, I taught my youngest daughter how to roast a chicken while she was driving through the French countryside to a chateau. Yes, doesn’t that sound so romantic?

Here is Peanut’s first Roast Chicken!

She’s a good cook and can navigate a kitchen flawlessly. She needed a little confidence boost, and I was happy to deliver. We traded shopping lists and directions via text message (she was a passenger, she wasn’t driving). She was a little concerned about navigating between Celsius and Fahrenheit, so I told her to wiggle the leg of the bird and to use her sense of sight, smell, and touch to see if it was cooked through.

Roast Chicken is a go-to dinner; now, she has this in her repertoire. She used onions and carrots, while I used radishes, carrots, and shallots, as that is all I had on hand and I did not want to go out to market. Both birds were a success.

My Roast Chicken with Radishes, Carrots, and Shallots.
The table is set for four. I bought the blue linen napkins while in Barcelona, Spain, when my oldest daughter Caroline was studying abroad. We used them for our Thanksgiving Dinner there. They always bring back good memories.
A spring table with candles lit. Peanut brought with her from Pierre Frey a piece of linen used as a tablecloth.
Buttered egg noodles and sauteed broccolini rounded out the meal.
While I spend most days in denim and a tee, one of my favorite party tricks is to run upstairs right before we sit down and put on ‘dinner clothes’.

I like roasting a chicken without consulting a book or recipe; I’ve done it often enough, and muscle memory is good. Of course, you want to make sure it is cooked through. I usually use a Thermometer to do this. If a thermometer isn’t available, you can make a tiny cut into the thickest part of the bird and look for clear juices, not red or pink.

Peanut, here are the tips in post form for future reference:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the neck, liver, and giblets, set them aside, rinse the bird with cool water, and pat it dry inside and out with paper towels. (I freeze the liver to make pate at a later date.) Season liberally with salt and pepper. Stuff the bird’s cavity with a lemon cut in half (give it a little squeeze), a head of garlic cut in half, and a small handful of fresh thyme. Tie the legs with kitchen twine and tuck the wings out and back behind the bird. Place the bird in a roasting pan or baking dish. Slice some onions and carrots and surround the bird with the vegetables, or use what you have on hand, like radishes, carrots, and shallots. Be sure not to crowd the pan as you want roasted vegetables, not steamed. Baste the bird and the veg with melted butter, season again with salt and pepper. Pop into the oven. Periodically stir the veg and baste the bird with the butter and juices. Roast for about an hour and begin to check for doneness. After removing from the oven, let rest for 10 to 15 minutes before carving. Enjoy!

Two of us had fresh strawberries for dessert; the others had olive oil cake with strawberries and ice cream!

first day of spring

strawberry plants and spring bulbs, oh, how I love you

Finally, the time when we can begin to stir again. On the first day of spring, I welcome you with an open heart.

I made myself do yard work for an hour, a promise that pays off in spades. Like any good project, you can get swept up and lose track of time once you start. It’s the starting that is the challenge.

Mise en place for bolognese sauce for tomorrow’s lasagna. I know, lasagna in spring, yet the three grands are coming for dinner, and it’s still pretty cold out there. I have been creating menus that can be prepared beforehand so that I can enjoy the people around me and not constantly be in the kitchen. Also, I have been using store-bought bone broth instead of store-bought beef broth to increase the protein value.
I’ve been all about this pearl midi-skirt and have been wearing it constantly, both here in Buffalo, NY, and in St. Petersburg, FL.
Once home,  I immediately changed into this other matched set, this one a gift from my two eldest daughters for Christmas.

More exciting activities were prepping the sauce for tomorrow’s lasagna, dressing up for a political fundraiser downtown, and undressing myself once I got home.

Grateful for the longer days. Wishing everyone brightness and the confidence to begin again, whatever that may be for you.

Every day dress, the first day of Spring, 2025.

Toast

Today, January 8th, I finally took down ALL of the holiday lights, two days after I had promised myself it would be done. I know everything usually takes longer than anticipated, even so, I’m toast, and it’s okay.

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Cocktail Meeting for Twenty

There’s nothing like offering to open your home in the first week of December to get the holiday decoration ball rolling. I hung the garland the day before our intimate meeting, but have yet to light the outdoor pots. I try and do a little every day. Slow and steady. And careful on the ladder!

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